A Cambodian Nail Studio opened on 11th June offering acrylic nail extensions, manicures, pedicures and traditional nail art beautifully created by Somaly Uch.

Somaly was born in a small village near Kampong Speu, Cambodia and grew up with no running water or electricity. She moved to Phnom Penh when 8 years old and upon finishing school trained as a nail technician. Whilst having lunch in a food court in December 2006, she met Simon Woolf, who was travelling through Cambodia seeking business opportunities.

Simon runs a Sales Agency from Aycliffe Village helping companies make the most of their markets – ranging from the promotion of building cleaning products to contract cleaning. He is currently involved with the UK launch of Club and Country which provides competitive tracksuits and strips for sports teams. He is a partner in a company which purchases titanium in China.

In November 2007 Simon came back to England with Somaly and as they arrived at Heathrow they were met with freezing fog and Somaly froze. The coldest Somaly had ever experienced previously was 18 degrees centigrade.

Upon seeing snow for the first time, Somaly ran into the fields in Aycliffe Village, danced around and shouted "beautiful white flowers from the moon".

They returned to Phnom Penh to get married in February this year. 15 members of Simon’s family and friends joined them, including his sister Jane and her partner Nev who live in Aycliffe Village. The second day of ceremony started at 6.30am and finished 11pm, with 12 costume changes!

Somaly is constantly amazed at the life we lead in the UK such as machines for every purpose imaginable. Dogs are another big surprise – we can buy food for dogs, dogs take people for walks and last week Somaly went to Brough Park greyhound racing and had difficulty explaining six dogs running round in a circle to her mother during a telephone call to Cambodia but once she understood they could not stop laughing.

Somaly set up the Cambodian Nail Studio to enable her to send money back to her family in Cambodia. The average wage is less than £50 per month working 60 hours a week. She wants her brothers and sisters to receive a good education, study English and hopefully visit England one day.

The army has found Cambodia's new map of the Preah Vihear temple encroaches on Thai territory at two critical areas, an army source said yesterday.

In the map to be used in the listing of the ancient ruins as a World Heritage site, the border line at Bandai Naga (Naga-sided stairways), the entrance to the Hindu temple on the Thai side in Si Sa Ket province, apparently encroaches upon Thai territory about 10 metres.

The border line at the Bandai Hak (collapsed stairways) mountain pass is up to two metres into Thailand.

''The Foreign Ministry, the Fine Arts Department and the army's border affairs department are urgently negotiating with Cambodia. We cannot lose a single square inch,'' the source said.

This is not the first attempt by Cambodia to try to claim Thai areas of the ancient ruins, said the source.

The map will be a key document when Cambodia presents its case to experts of Unesco at talks next month in Quebec. The Cambodian plan needs Thailand's support.

The map was redrawn and handed to Thailand last Thursday following an agreement between the two countries to do so during a Unesco-brokered meeting in Paris late last month.

Phnom Penh - Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International on Thursday called for the release of a jailed opposition newspaper editor, but prison authorities said there was no indication his release would come soon.

Dam Sith, 39, is editor of the Moneaksekar Kampuchea newspaper and a candidate for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party in national elections scheduled for next month.

He is charged with defamation, 'insult' and disinformation over remarks his newspaper published by party leader Sam Rainsy regarding Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.

'Dam Sith's arrest demonstrates how the criminal justice system is used and abused to silence government critics,' Brittis Edman, researcher for London-based Amnesty International, said in a press release.

'His arrest sends a message of fear to journalists and other media workers in the lead-up to national elections next month,' Edman added.

His detention on civil charges is unprecedented, and the court said it was because of fears he would interfere with witnesses - a reason that has not satisfied rights and journalist groups.

'There's little room for critical or opposition journalists in Cambodia, and those who express dissent risk harassment, intimidation and, at times, imprisonment,' Sara Colm, senior researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch, said in the same press release.

Although the Information Ministry has sent an appeal for Sith's release to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, there has been silence since his arrest Sunday, ministry officials said.

And Mong Kim Heng, the director of Prey Sar prison, where Sith is being held, said Thursday that he had received no hints of Sith's release.

“It almost seems to frustrate people because I’m not here for prostitution ...” former Emerald Coast resident Matt Chambliss says of his volunteer work in Cambodia. “So many people are here on vacation, and I’m here doing business.”

As a member of the Planting Peace charitable organization, Chambliss, 26, is working in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, to find housing for homeless amputees — a sizable population in a country where land mines are widespread and one in every 200 people is an amputee.

“I saw homeless families nursing and sleeping in the brush next to all the tourism,” Chambliss said, “and thought, ‘This is crazy.’ We found a small village, wrote a check and the eight families — maybe 60 to 70 people — were in homes for around $3,000 a year total.”

Planting Peace is the brainchild of activist and former Destin resident Aaron Jackson, best known for a campaign to rid Haiti of parasitic worms infesting the residents there. Jackson, who was a CNN Hero, was invited to set up a Planting Peace program in Cambodia and invited Chambliss, a former golfing buddy, to join him.

Chambliss, who has been in Cambodia roughly three months now, said he’d previously worked in El Salvador and Belize, “mostly building houses and creating wells for the people there. This is a very different form from those previous trips because of my extended time here.”

Chambliss said that since war engulfed Cambodia in the 1970s, families have been torn apart and killed, to the point many people no longer have blood relatives to live with. Many parents, he said, make ends meet by selling children into prostitution or “renting” them out to a tourist.“We are doing our best to reverse this cycle,” Chambliss said. “Life doesn’t seem as special here — this might sound funny, but it’s like we treasure our lives more or something. Maybe the war and all the death seen by these people created a sense of failure or lack of respect for themselves ... They treat their own people like dogs or something.”

Chambliss said that once he arrived, thinking about himself was “out the window — focus on the lives of others. To see and feel people hug you is a great feeling, not involving money but real love. I never felt it until I came here.”

The biggest problem, Chambliss said, is that people are constantly trying to “scam or work you over. If you are not careful, you can end up dead, or dead broke.”

With conditions so desperate, Chambliss said, many Cambodians have no chance to look beyond the day’s survival: “We are focusing on showing them a future. People here only see what is now, not what is to come.”

Chambliss said one thing he’d like to tell the Emerald Coast is to travel and see the world and how different it is from America.

“We have such great lives in the USA, we take it for granted. Live life and enjoy what you have is what I have learned here.”

WANT TO HELP?

You can donate to the Cambodian relief work through plantingpeace.org, or by calling (850) 376-5600

Accounted for: Ben Nhem was surprised to receive an Order of Australia medal in the Queen's Birthday honours.

Fairfax Media.BY KYLIE STEVENS10/06/2008

BEN Nhem, an orphaned teenager when he arrived in Australia with his younger brother from Cambodia in 1983, has received an Order of Australia medal in the Queen's Birthday honours.It was for his tireless work with the Cambodian community in Australia.

'`I thought it was only for big guys like government ministers who would get this kind of award,'' Mr Nhem, an accountant of Rooty Hill, said.

``Some years ago, I never knew what the Queen's Birthday Honour was all about.

``Later on, when I understood what it meant, I thought to myself that I would not dare to dream about it.

``This award means so much to me.

``I feel more at home in Australia than in Cambodia these days.''

Mr Nhem formed CambodiaWatch Australia in 1997 to lobby for improved human rights in Cambodia. The group, now the Cambodian Network for Peace and Reconciliation, also raises funds to build wells in poor villages.

Mr Nhem also formed the Cambodian Ex-War Orphans Support Group and was on the Khmer Community of NSW committee for many years.

He was 10 when his father was killed by the communist Khmer Rouge in 1977, two years after it took over Cambodia at the end of the Vietnam War.

Mr Nhem was sent to prison not long after for stealing rice to eat.

He escaped and found his mother and sister dying from hunger and overwork.

Two years later, Mr Nhem and his brother, aged 8, walked 100 kilometres barefooted to Thailand where they were picked up by international aid workers and put into a Red Cross camp for orphans. They became state wards when they arrived in Australia and lived at the Burnside Home in North Parramatta.

Mr Nhem attended Ashcroft and Canley Vale high schools, studied at university, and has had his own accounting practice for 10 years.

``I have never seen any generous country in the world like Australia, and the Australian people,'' he said.

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, June 12 (Itar-Tass) - Borderguards have detained two Cambodia-flagged crabbers within Russia's exclusive economic zone in the Bering Sea, an official in the public relations group of the Northeastern coast guard department of the Federal Security Service told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

The fishing schooner Nereus-2 under the flag of Cambodia was spotted by the border guarding ship Bars (panther) in its patrolling area. The skipper of the boat defied the borderguards' demand to take an inspection party on board and made an attempt to shake off the pursuers. The border guards succeeded in detaining the boat after a brief pursuit.

The schooner's crew consists of 11 Russians, five Indonesians, and two Koreans. The boat is equipped to catch and transport live crabs. The boat lacked permission for crab fishing. The boat has been arrested and all documentation has been confiscated.

The other refrigerated fish transport Cea-1 was in Russian waters without identification marks. Following the boat's detention, the skipper said it was registered at the port of Phnom Penh and operated under Cambodia's flag. All the crewmembers are citizens of the Russian Federation.

The borderguards found about 86 tonnes of crabs in the boat's holds. The boat lacked permission for crab fishing operations and did not maintain any documentation.

Both vessels are being escorted to the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky for an inquiry.

"Chunghwa Telecom is working with Viettel to offer telecom services in Cambodia," Ho Chen told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview on a sidelines of a telecom conference in Hanoi.

Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan's largest phone company, has been looking overseas for growth, and has a 30% stake in an Internet data storage joint venture with Viettel, Vietnam's largest mobile operator by subscribers.

Viettel, which is run by the Ministry of Defense, is the only Vietnamese telecom company to have received permission to operate telecom services in Cambodia.

Ho Chen also said the company plans to finalize a plan to reduce capital by issuing new shares from the company's capital surplus and will submit a plan to the board by the end of June. He didn't elaborate on the size of the planned capital reduction.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USAPublic StatementIndex number ASA 23/010/200811 June 2008

Journalists and opposition members under attack as elections near

The Cambodian government should release a jailed opposition newspaper editor and candidate and end its intimidation of journalists and opposition party candidates in the lead-up to National Assembly elections in July, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today.

On June 8, military police arrested newspaper editor Dam Sith, 39, who is also running as a candidate for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), after his newspaper published allegations about the current foreign minister.

"Dam Sith's arrest demonstrates how the criminal justice system is used and abused to silence government critics," said Brittis Edman, researcher for Amnesty International. "His arrest sends a message of fear to journalists and other media workers in the lead-up to national elections next month."

Dam Sith's newspaper, Moneaksekar Khmer (Khmer Conscience), quoted allegations by opposition leader Sam Rainsy over the role of the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hor Namhong, during the period of Khmer Rouge rule from 1975 - 1979. Hor Namhong filed a criminal complaint against Dam Sith for disinformation, defamation and libel under Cambodia's 1992 penal code. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International believe that public officials who consider themselves defamed should not seek redress through the criminal law in order to protect their reputation.

Moneaksekar Khmer is one of the few newspapers in Cambodia that is not affiliated with the government or the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Hun Sen, which also controls all television and most radio stations.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said that the arrest of Dam Sith is part of a pattern of intimidation by the government against opposition and independent media in the run-up to the July elections. On May 21, Hun Sen threatened the independent Beehive radio station for running programming from opposition parties, stating: "You have one channel; we have 39 channels. If you curse me, you will receive bad merit. Those who [previously] cursed me already disappeared from the world."

On May 28, the government shut down independent radio station Angkor Ratha (FM 105.25) in Kratie province. The station, whose headquarters is in Siem Reap province, was granted a license to broadcast in January 2008. The Ministry of Information abruptly cancelled the license for the station's Kratie broadcasts after it sold air time to opposition parties.

"There's little room for critical or opposition journalists in Cambodia, and those who express dissent risk harassment, intimidation and at times, imprisonment," said Sara Colm, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called on the Cambodian authorities to respect and protect the right to freedom of expression, allowing journalists to report news and express opinions about politics without retribution.

Dam Sith, who is running as an opposition candidate in the capital Phnom Penh, was arrested in the midst of an intense campaign by the ruling CPP to induce opposition members to join the CPP and punish those who refuse. In March 2008, police arrested and detained local opposition SRP leader Tuot Saron in Kampong Thom. Tuot Saron is still detained and faces charges of illegal confinement after seeking to assist a distressed former party colleague following her alleged defection to the CPP under controversial circumstances. The court issued arrest warrants against three other local SRP leaders, who avoided arrest and remain in hiding.

"Arrests and other politically-motivated legal actions are being used to intimidate, coerce and silence opposition members and journalists," said Colm. "With elections pending, it's crucial that Cambodians are able to receive information from a variety of news sources, and that opposition candidates are able to campaign without fear of reprisals."

The right to freedom of expression is guaranteed in the Cambodian Constitution and enshrined in international human rights law. As a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Cambodia is obliged to promote and protect these rights and ensure that people can fully enjoy these rights.

The 1995 Press Law provides for some protection of journalists, but is rarely used. Instead, the so-called 1992 UNTAC Law, Cambodia's current penal code, is used in most legal cases against journalists or media representatives. These cases often violate the right to freedom of expression.

Dam Sith has been charged with violating articles 62 and 63 of the UNTAC Law. Article 62 criminalises the publication, distribution or reproduction of false information that "has disturbed or is likely to disturb the public peace." Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch consider the provision to be too vague and sweeping, enabling the government to intimidate and prosecute those who are exercising their right to freedom of expression.

Article 63 provides that allegations against public figures "which the author, the journalist, editor, or producer knows to be false" may constitute defamation. The article does not carry a custodial sentence. This article also restricts the right to freedom of expression in violation of international law and standards.

"It is time for Cambodia to repeal provisions in its laws that allow individuals, including journalists, to be criminally prosecuted for peaceful speech," said Brittis Edman.

Cambodia is regularly referred to as the human-trafficking hub of Southeast Asia, but it's hard to know by which measure. Anywhere from thousands to hundreds of thousands of men, women and children are trafficked there annually. Without reliable data on these crimes, it's hard to combat this clandestine trade or to prioritize needs and services for its victims.

Which is why it's heartening to see Phnom Penh take action. Last week, the government launched its first-ever national effort to collect standardized data on human trafficking. Headed by the National Task Force, a collaborative effort between 14 government ministries and agencies and more than 200 nongovernmental organizations, the goal is to establish common definitions and data collection methodology.

This isn't as easy as it might sound. For example, does cross-border trafficking refer to national borders or movement across provinces? Should the recorded age of the victim be based on his or her age when first trafficked, or the age when the person was rescued? If a woman agrees to be sold by her parents into the sex industry, is she trafficked?

These questions matter. Policy makers can't construct effective laws without knowing the nature of the crimes committed. Law enforcement can't combat trafficking effectively without good data. NGOs can't provide the correct services to victims of trafficking without data on gender, age, education level, forms of exploitation and the location of rescue.

Once definitions are established, the National Task Force can start collecting and analyzing data to ensure that policies and programs respond to real needs. This is already starting to happen.

The National Task Force, together with the Ministry of Social Affairs and its partners, have agreed to collect 15 key data sets to determine the profile of the victim, forms of assistance and reintegration services provided. This data will help the Cambodian government and countertrafficking actors monitor and measure the impact of antitrafficking efforts.

This collaborative effort is the latest indication that Cambodia is getting serious about combating trafficking. Earlier this year, parliament passed the Law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation. This law is a watershed because it criminalizes a wide range of trafficking offenses, from sex slavery to bonded labor. Phnom Pehn has also started to crack down harder on offenders, in an effort to protect Cambodian nationals from exploitation.

These are just the first steps in a long war ahead. But it's worth it. Modern-day slavery is alive and well. It will only be eradicated when government and citizens make a concerted effort to fight it.

Ms. Sander-Lindstrom heads the Asia Foundation's Counter-Trafficking in Persons Program in Cambodia.

Hun Sen, Cambodia's prime minister, speaks to the media during a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, June 14, 2007. Photographer: Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg News

Bloomberg.comBy Michael Heath

June 12 (Bloomberg) -- Cambodia's government, led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, is using the justice system to intimidate journalists and the opposition before next month's general elections, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said.

Dam Sith, a candidate of the Sam Rainsy Party and editor of the Khmer Conscience newspaper, was arrested for questioning the role of Hor Namhong, the foreign minister, during the rule of the Khmer Rouge movement, the groups said in a statement.

The arrest ``demonstrates how the criminal justice system is used and abused to silence government critics,'' said Brittis Edman, a researcher at London-based Amnesty. It ``sends a message of fear to journalists and other media workers in the lead-up to national elections.''

The ruling Cambodian People's Party will repeat its victory of 2003 when elections are held July 27 in the South Asian country of 14 million people, Hun Sen said earlier this week. Sam Rainsy spent a year in exile in France from February 2005, during which he was jailed for 18 months in absentia for defaming the prime minister.

Cambodia's economy expanded 9.6 percent in 2007, after growing by at least 10 percent during the previous three years, according to data compiled by the World Bank.

Hun Sen wants to develop oil and mineral resources to attract international investment and reduce Cambodia's dependence on clothing exports and tourism for growth. About a third of the population live on less than 50 cents a day and 90 percent live in rural areas.

Intimidation Pattern

Dam Sith's arrest is part of a pattern of intimidation against the opposition and independent media in the run-up to the election, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said.

On May 21, Hun Sen threatened the independent Beehive radio station after it broadcast programming from opposition parties, according to the groups. A week later, independent radio station Angkor Ratha had its license, issued less than six months earlier, revoked after it sold air time to opposition parties, the groups said.

Hun Sen said his party may win two-thirds of seats in the 123-member parliament, the Mekong Times reported yesterday.

The party will probably win at least 81 seats, up from 73, and receive 73 percent of the vote versus 64 percent in the 2003 election, the Phnom Penh-based English-language daily cited him as saying. The Sam Rainsy Party won 24 seats in the last ballot.

Hun Sen formed a coalition government in July 2004 with the royalist Funcinpec party, which won 26 seats in 2003.

Opposition Members

Dam Sith, who is running for election in Phnom Penh, was arrested as Hun Sen's CPP presses opposition members to join the party and punishes those who refuse, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said.

In March, police detained local Sam Rainsy Party leader Tuot Saron in Kampong Thom. Tuot Saron is still in detention and faces charges of illegal confinement after seeking to assist a former party colleague following her alleged defection to the CPP, according to the groups.

The court issued arrest warrants against three other local Sam Rainsy Party leaders, who are in hiding after avoiding arrest, the groups said.

Cambodia's attention has been focused on five former leaders of the Khmer Rouge who are facing trial this year at a United Nations-backed genocide tribunal for crimes allegedly committed during the regime's 1975-1979 rule.

The Khmer Rouge forced the population out of cities as it tried to establish an agrarian state, killing an estimated 1.7 million people through starvation, disease or execution.

The regime was ousted when Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia, plunging the country into civil war. Most fighting stopped after the 1991 Paris Peace Accords that called for a cease-fire and democratic elections, which were held in 1993.

Penal Code

Two years after the elections, Cambodia passed a Press Law that provides some protection to journalists, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty said. It's rarely used. Instead, the so-called 1992 UNTAC Law, Cambodia's current penal code, is used in most legal cases against journalists or media representatives.

``There's little room for critical or opposition journalists in Cambodia, and those who express dissent risk harassment, intimidation and, at times, imprisonment,'' Sara Colm, senior researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch, said in the statement.

Dam Sith has been charged with violating articles 62 and 63 of the UNTAC Law. His newspaper, Khmer Conscience, is one of the few in Cambodia that is not affiliated with the government or the CPP, which controls all television and most radio stations.

PHNOM PENH, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The Khmer Civilization Support Association (KCSA) has announced its celebration of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)'s 1962 ruling that Preah Vihear belongs to Cambodia rather than Thailand, will be held Sunday at Wat Phnom in Phnom Penh, local newspaper the Mekong Times reported Thursday.

"The ceremony is being held in gratitude to our Cambodian ancestors who built Preah Vihear," said the KCSA statement, adding that it was also dedicated to former King Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodian head of state when the ICJ ruling was made.

The ceremony is also being held to thank the Cambodian government for maintaining sovereignty and integrity until the temple is registered as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site list, said the KSCA.

The UN body will discuss the temple's listing at talks to be held early next month in Quebec.

The KSCA announcement comes as the Thai government studies in detail a new drawing of the temple grounds that Cambodia submitted last week.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungwat told The Bangkok Post Wednesday that further talks between Thai and Cambodian officials are needed because the Cambodian map of the area slightly differs from the border map used by Thailand, the Mekong Times said.

Pai Siphan, spokesman for the Cambodian Council of Ministers, said Wednesday that the term "map" as opposed to "drawing" was causing confusion.

"We use the word drawing, as it was a drawing submitted to UNESCO and Thailand. We have sent the drawing to the Thai side and they approved it," he said.

He added that, according to Cambodian law, the legal premises of each temple are adjudged to be 30 meters starting from the base of its outer buildings.

"Currently Preah Vihear temple fences are too near the gate of the temple, which indicates that Thailand has moved its border markers into Cambodian territory," said the spokesman.

MANILA, Philippines - A top government lawyer in Cambodia’s genocide trials will visit the Philippines to deliver a lecture on the prosecution of grave crimes against international human rights and international humanitarian law.

Robert Petit, the head counsel in an international tribunal which will try war criminals of Cambodia’s communist Khmer Rouge, will deliver a keynote speech and a lecture at an international training conference to be held at the Vista Marina Hotel in Subic Bay from June 16 to 17, 2008.

A former Quebec and Canadian Federal (Crown) prosecutor, Petit shares the chief prosecutor’s role in the Cambodian genocide trials with his Cambodian counterpart, Chea Leang. He will speak at the Subic conference side by side with new Commission on Human Rights chair Leila De Lima, who will lecture on Philippine State Obligations on the Right to Life.

Also speaking at the landmark conference is top forensic anthropologist Dr. Jose Pablo Baraybar, who heads the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team, one of several Latin American groups investigating the complicity of former dictatorships in acts of impunity. The organization has documented some 13,000 cases of enforced disappearances, almost 4,000 more than the estimate of the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The two-day conference is envisioned as a complement to the Seminar Workshop on Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances by the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR)).

Around 30 public prosecutors from the Department of Justice and a comparable number of human rights activists and workers have been invited to join the conference, which features speakers from various international criminal tribunals who will share their expertise with their Filipino counterparts.

“This activity is a follow-up to an international conference on the same theme that CenterLaw staged in Davao early this year," said Prof. Harry L. Roque Jr., one of the organizers of the Subic conference.

He said the conference aims to acquaint Filipino prosecutors about developments abroad in the campaign against impunity, noting that the Philippines has been in the spotlight before the eyes of the international community because of the rising cases of human rights violations in the country since the Arroyo administration took power in 2001.

“The establishment of the war crimes tribunal where Mr. Petit is a top prosecutor is in fact a warning to governments that in this day and age of human rights movements, impunity cannot remain unpunished forever," he said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Baraybar’s work in Peru acquires an added significance today following the extradition to Peru of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, under whose regime many of enforced disappearances of dissidents took place.

Dr. Baraybar served as an expert witness with both the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and headed the Office on Missing Persons and Forensics of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.

He also recently published a major textbook on the detection of torture and related human rights abuses and is a much sought after lecturer on forensic anthropology.

Dr. Baraybar has also lectured before the Philippine Judicial Academy (Philja) and was part of the sterling roster of international speakers at the first ever international conference on extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture held in Davao early this year, also organized by CenterLaw.

Dr. Baraybar will lecture at the Subic conference on the forensics of impunity, drawing from his extensive experience digging up the truth in mass graves of victims of extrajudicial killings and disappearances in Peru, Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

The event will be held under the auspices of the Center for International law (CenterLaw), the American Bar Association (ABA), Rule of Law Initiative-US State Department-Bureau of Democracy Human Rights and Labor (DRL), The Asia Foundation (TAF), the Open Society Institute (OSI), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the University of the Philippine Foundation for Integrative and Development Studies (UPFIDS).

The NationBy comment & analysisSupalak GanjanakhundeePublished on June 12, 2008

Democrat Party deputy leader Alongkorn Pollabutr appeared to have misled some people and may be sparking unnecessary rifts with Cambodia when he suggested the government should remain opposed to Phnom Penh's move to list the Hindu temple of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site. If entertained, such a suggestion could mean a revision of an agreement that Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An sealed in Paris last month.

Thailand and Cambodia had locked horns since last year when Bangkok opposed a Cambodian proposal to list the temple as a Unesco (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation) World Heritage site as Phnom Penh had annexed 4.6 square kilometres of overlapping area claimed by both sides.

After rounds of negotiation since the previous government, Cambodia finally agreed to propose listing only the temple that is clearly under its sovereignty.

The Cambodian authority had sent a new map of its annexation to Thailand for consideration and Bangkok was expected to find it satisfactory.

The Cabinet will endorse the map soon to enable Cambodia to submit its proposal to be listed as a protected site when the Unesco heritage committee meets in Canada next month.

The opposition Democrats blamed the government for mishandling the case.

Allowing Cambodia to list the temple means giving up Thai sovereignty over the Preah Vihear, they said.

Sompong Sucharitkul, former Thai ambassador to The Hague who said he was close to the case when the conflict was in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), wrote in an article that Thailand had never conceded that the temple belonged to Cambodia despite the court's ruling in 1962.

It was right that the Thai government at the time announced its disagreement to the ICJ's ruling in favour of Cambodia.

But such an announcement contradicted the action since the Cabinet on July 10, 1962, agreed to hand the temple to Cambodia.

Thai authorities then withdrew troops from the temple and removed Thai nationals out of the area.

Sompong's statement that the current government should not change its position and recognise Cambodian sovereignty over Preah Vihear could be somewhat misleading since it had de facto already changed its position and recognised Cambodia's sovereignty 46 years ago.

De jury, the ICJ's ruling in 1962 was deemed the final decision and there was no appeal procedure.

Thailand has the right to ask for a revision only if it finds some new evidence, but such rights lasted only 10 years after the ruling.

The foreign minister at the time was Thanat Khoman and he was also a former Democrat leader.

He reserved the right to refile the case if there is a new international law relating to the case in favour of Thailand. More than four decades on, no such new law had emerged.

The rush to discredit the government by ignoring and tinkering with historical fact to shore up nationalistic sentiment is not healthy for Thailand since such sentiment may lead to negative terms with that country and escalate into what could be a needless conflict. Any misunderstanding with Cambodia should be avoided around this time since Cambodia is to hold a general election next month.

If some Cambodian parties decide to pick on the issue of Preah Vihear to whip up anti-Thai sentiment for their own gains, it could cause a lot of trouble and perhaps strain cordial relations.

Thailand has already learned a valuable lesson that just a false statement over Khmer temples could lead to its embassy being gutted in January 2003.

The fire went beyond the embassy grounds, igniting an anti-Thai rampage that destroyed Thai properties and interests in that country, some of which cannot be compensated by money alone.

Diplomatically speaking, cooperation with Cambodia is certainly more sensible than pushing for a response.

(London, June 11, 2008) – The Cambodian government should release a jailed opposition newspaper editor and candidate, and end its intimidation of journalists and opposition party candidates in the lead-up to National Assembly elections in July, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today.

On June 8, military police arrested newspaper editor Dam Sith, 39, who is also running as a candidate for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), after his newspaper published allegations about the current foreign minister.

“Dam Sith’s arrest demonstrates how the criminal justice system is used and abused to silence government critics,” said Brittis Edman, researcher for Amnesty International. “His arrest sends a message of fear to journalists and other media workers in the lead-up to national elections next month.”

Dam Sith’s newspaper, Moneaksekar Khmer (Khmer Conscience), quoted allegations by opposition leader Sam Rainsy over the role of the current minister of foreign affairs, Hor Namhong, during the period of Khmer Rouge rule from 1975-1979. Hor Namhong filed a criminal complaint against Dam Sith for disinformation, defamation and libel under Cambodia’s 1992 penal code. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International believe that public officials who consider themselves defamed should not seek redress through the criminal law in order to protect their reputation.

Moneaksekar Khmer is one of the few newspapers in Cambodia that is not affiliated with the government or the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Hun Sen, which also controls all television and most radio stations.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said that the arrest of Dam Sith is part of a pattern of intimidation by the government against opposition and independent media in the run-up to the July elections. On May 21, Hun Sen threatened the independent Beehive radio station for running programming from opposition parties, stating: “You have one channel; we have 39 channels. If you curse me, you will receive bad merit. Those who [previously] cursed me already disappeared from the world.”

On May 28, the government shut down independent radio station Angkor Ratha (FM 105.25) in Kratie province. The station, whose headquarters is in Siem Reap province, was granted a license to broadcast in January 2008. The Ministry of Information abruptly cancelled the license for the station’s Kratie broadcasts after it sold air time to opposition parties.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called on the Cambodian authorities to respect and protect the right to freedom of expression, allowing journalists to report news and express opinions about politics without retribution.

Dam Sith, who is running as an opposition candidate in the capital Phnom Penh, was arrested in the midst of an intense campaign by the ruling CPP to induce opposition members to join the CPP and punish those who refuse. In March 2008, police arrested and detained local opposition SRP leader Tuot Saron in Kampong Thom. Tuot Saron is still detained and faces charges of illegal confinement after seeking to assist a distressed former party colleague following her alleged defection to the CPP under controversial circumstances. The court issued arrest warrants against three other local SRP leaders, who avoided arrest and remain in hiding.

“Arrests and other politically motivated legal actions are being used to intimidate, coerce and silence opposition members and journalists,” said Colm. “With elections pending, it’s crucial that Cambodians are able to receive information from a variety of news sources, and that opposition candidates are able to campaign without fear of reprisals.”

The right to freedom of expression is guaranteed in the Cambodian Constitution and enshrined in international human rights law. As a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Cambodia is obliged to promote and protect these rights and ensure that people can fully enjoy them.

The 1995 Press Law provides for some protection of journalists, but is rarely used. Instead, the so-called 1992 UNTAC Law, Cambodia’s current penal code, is used in most legal cases against journalists or media representatives. These cases often violate the right to freedom of expression.

Dam Sith has been charged with violating articles 62 and 63 of the UNTAC Law. Article 62 criminalizes the publication, distribution or reproduction of false information that “has disturbed or is likely to disturb the public peace.” Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch consider the provision to be too vague and sweeping, enabling the government to intimidate and prosecute those who are exercising their right to freedom of expression.

Article 63 provides that allegations against public figures “which the author, the journalist, editor, or producer knows to be false” may constitute defamation. The article does not carry a custodial sentence. This article also restricts the right to freedom of expression in violation of international law and standards.

“It is time for Cambodia to repeal provisions in its laws that allow individuals, including journalists, to be criminally prosecuted for peaceful speech,” said Edman.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A Cambodian commercial jet has been sitting at a Vietnamese airport for more than a year after being grounded for a technical problem and abandoned, an official said Wednesday.

The Royal Khmer Airlines plane has been parked on the tarmac at Hanoi's international airport since early May 2007, said Vo Huy Cuong, head of the Vietnam Civil Aviation Administration's Air Transportation Department.

The plane was abandoned only a month after Royal Khmer Airlines received its license to operate flights between the Cambodian city of Siem Riep, home to the world famous Angkor Wat temples, and Hanoi.

The Boeing 727 had operated only a few flights when it was grounded, Cuong said.

Cambodian aviation authorities removed the 30-year-old plane from its registration in August, he said.

Airline officials have promised Vietnamese authorities they will fix the problem and pay the parking fees, Cuong said.

He said this was the first time Vietnamese aviation officials had been faced with an abandoned aircraft.

“Phnom Penh: ‘The editor-in-chief of Moneaksekar Khmer Dam Sith should not be arrested, it is better to arrest me because this editor-in-chief just wrote repeating my words, saying that Hor Namhong was involved in the Khmer Rouge regime.’ This said the president of the opposition party, Mr. Sam Rainsy, to journalists at his party headquarters.

“Stating this in a press conference which lasted nearly an hour, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. yesterday 10 June 2008, Mr. Sam Rainsy asked to arrest him in exchange for the release of Mr. Dam Sith, who has no guilt.

“Mr. Sam Rainsy said the arrest of Mr. Dam Sith is a totally political issue, and it might affect the upcoming election. ‘I consider it to be political war, or the failure to buy Mr. Dam Sith and arresting him, in order to intimidate the Sam Rainsy Party before the election.’ Mr. Sam Rainsy said, ‘Mr. Dam Sith just reported the words I had said in his newspaper, related to Hor Namhong’ case. So, if they want an arrest, they should arrest me, because I said these words.

Mr. Sam Rainsy stressed, ‘I talked about Hor Namhong by relating him to the Khmer Rouge regime, but I just repeated the words of Samdech Euv [the Father King] Norodom Sihanouk.

Therefore, if they want to arrest Sam Rainsy, they must firstly arrest Samdech Euv.’“He said, ‘I consider the arrest of Mr. Dam Sith to be illegal, also because he was arrested on a Sunday, which is a day when the [court] administration is normally not operating.’

“Mr. Sam Rainsy added that they should release Mr. Dam Sith soon. Now, there are already reactions from everywhere over this arrest. There are international observers who prepare to join as election observers in Cambodia soon, but now consider to cancel their travel to Cambodia, as long as this journalist is not released.

Mr. Sam Rainsy requests Ieng Sary to be his witness in this lawsuit. However, he must first sue him at the Phnom Penh court, in order to clarify the procedures, whether the Khmer Rouge Tribunal allows Ieng Sary to be his witness or not. Previously, Mr. Hor Namhong sued at the Phnom Penh court, suggesting to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal to let Kang Kek Iev, alias Duch, to be his witness, but this request has been rejected by the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

“Mr. Sam Rainsy uses a document from Rasmei Kampuchea when they had interviewed Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong, now using this document to accuse Mr. Hor Namhong, saying that he was loyal to Ieng Sary during that period. Mr. Sam Rainsy also said that during the period of Democratic Kampuchea, Mr. Van Piny had been the chief of the Boeng Trabaek prison - called the ‘K17 Prison, - and when he resigned, Mr. Hor Namhong replaced him in this position; his wife was head of the women’s unit, and one of his sons was head of the children’s unit.

“This is the explanation of Mr. Sam Rainsy with some documents as reference to link Mr. Hor Namhong to the Khmer Rouge regime.

“Mr. Hor Namhong has rejected the accusation, saying that in the Khmer Rouge regime he was not the chief of Boeng Trabaek Prison, but he said he was also a victim. With a similar accusation, Mr. Hor Namhong had sued and won against Samdech Euv already - so why does Mr. Sam Rainsy want to dig up this old story? What Mr. Sam Rainsy raised by repeating Samdech Euv’s words means that he had already made a mistake, because a court has already decided that Mr. Hor Namhong was the winner in that court case.

“In this press conference, Mr. Sam Rainsy expressed also concerns that the monarchy might be dissolved. Now, some politicians claim the monarchy to belong be their own party, which might bring problems in view of the constitution, and also result in problems for the throne. Mr. Sam Rainsy considers that there may be an aim to eliminate the opposition party, then to send the King into exile abroad, and change Cambodia into a country under a dictatorship.”

[Editor's note: In the weeks leading into national polls, VOA Khmer will explore a wide number of election issues. The "Election Issues 2008" series will air stories on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a related "Hello VOA" guest on Thursday. This is the second in a two-part series examining the worries of the urban displaced.]

Although politicians and officials say they are seeking votes from the urban displaced, they may face one problem: many displaced are no longer eligible to vote.

As many as 150,000 residents of Phnom Penh could face eviction in the path of development in Phnom Penh. But many of them will not be among the 720,000 voters registered in Phnom Penh.

But the Committee for Free and Fair Elections and the Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections both say the displacement has put voting out of reach this year for many.

Some who were registered at their old neighborhoods in Phnom Penh have not been able to register in their new locations, officials from both organizations said.

Nevertheless, parties hope they can convince those who do vote that they will act to solve many of the problems the evictees face.

Cambodian People's Party lawmaker Chiem Yeap said his party's candidates will seek to explain to resettled residents reasons they were moved.

"Some people say the rich put pressure on the poor," he told VOA Khmer. "It is not like that. The CPP always wants achievement and winning in a valuable manner, and we want our citizens to understand that and vote for us."

Many forced evictions have led to displaced communities far from the capital and its jobs, schools and infrastructure. Critics say eviction plans rarely compensate people fairly, but city officials maintain the evictees are squatters on state land.

CPP candidates for Phnom Penh will seek to inform potential voters of the party's future measures, to help build houses, roads, schools and hospitals, and provide them with clean water and electricity, Chiem Yeap said.

The displaced could receive help from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, which seeks to raise the living conditions in these settlements to the standards enjoyed by city dwellers, Phnom Penh candidate Yim Sovann said.

Lu Laysreng, first deputy president of Funcinpec and Minister of Rural Development, called the urban displaced the patient in the hospital that needed treatment soonest.

No matter the policies, the urban displaced are looking for leadership to bring them out of poverty, voters like Chim Rem, who was ousted from his Sparrow's Nest home on the Tonle Bassac and now lives in a resettlement village 20 kilometers from the capital.

"I will go to vote, to choose the prime minister, so that he sees all kinds of people and knows someone who has difficulty or lives under suppression," he said.

Dam Sith, the longtime editor of Moneaksekar Khmer, an opposition paper, has been jailed since Sunday, charged with defamation and disinformation, after his paper ran a story that quoted Sam Rainsy comments linking Foreign Minister Hor Namhong to the Khmer Rouge.

Dam Sith is sharing his cell with 20 other prisoners, Sam Rainsy said , adding that he wanted authorities to jail him instead.

The opposition leader said he expected Dam Sith to be released soon, but he gave no specifics.

Prime Minister Hun Sen called on the international community to fund the Khmer Rouge tribunal during a time of financial crisis.

A failure of the tribunal due to the lack of funds will be the responsibility of the UN, and the UN would lose its reputation, Hun Sen told the English-language Mekong Times Wednesday.

"I call on the UN and those who promised to provide money," he said. "Any failure of the court due to budget shortages is not Cambodia's responsibility."

Hun Sen's comments "show how much interest and how much support he gives to the court," tribunal spokesman Peter Foster said. "It would be disappointing for everyone if funding did not come forward and we were not able to proceed."

Tribunal administration officials are currently revising a budget proposal in an effort to bring the amount they need from donors below $114 million.

The tribunal was initially budgeted at $56 million, but officials say they need more if the courts are complete trials for five jailed Khmer Rouge leaders.

Tribunal officials will present a revised budget to donors next week, Foster said.

An American professor is making a documentary titled "The Genocide Forgotten," and hopes to finish the film next year. He is focusing on ongoing efforts to educate and inform Cambodians, especially young Cambodians, about what happened in the country in the 1970s, and how awareness of history can lead to a national healing.

"I hope that the film will educate worldwide audiences about genocide and about the prevention of genocide," said University of Florida Journalism School professor Tim Sorel, the filmmaker.Sorel started working on the documentary three years ago and hopes to complete a 50-minute film by next year.

He says he expects to make one more trip to Cambodia for it. Sorel became interested in Cambodia when he traveled there for the first time in 2004, working for an NGO called Sustainable Cambodia, which brings clean water, a literacy project, health care and a food bank to the people of Pursat province.

"When I got there and when I came back to the United States I realized that a lot of US citizens really didn't know all that much about the Pol Pot regime and a whole period of the history," said Sorel. "Then on my second and third trips to Cambodia I also found that there were a lot of young people in Cambodia who didn't understand Cambodia's history as well, and that's how the documentary was born."

Not many Americans understand what took place in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, following the US withdrawal from Vietnam.

"This documentary was not only to educate the US audiences about Cambodia and the plight of the people, now 30 years after the Khmer Rouge, but also to talk a little bit of what is being done to educate people in Cambodia, young people especially about that time period of the history," Sorel said.

While Sorel was making the documentary, the Cambodian people have gone through such extraordinary changes. More so than he thinks any US audience could ever understand.

Sorel also interviewed Khamboly Dy, who recently wrote "A History of Democratic Kampuchea," which will be taught, in some form, in Cambodian high schools as early as 2009.

"It has been a wonderful experience to come here to interview Khamboly in a way of a tremendous young man," Sorel said. "I think he is taking all the correct steps that he needs to take to make sure that young people and all people educate themselves about this time period to help the country heal, and to help the country move forward."